December 10, 1903 



The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



U3 



A Christinas Basket, Lorraine Begonia and Porto Rican Matting, 



something like the beautiful Asparagus 

 plumosus in this respect, only tlie smilax 

 is invaluable in the large hall, while the 

 plumosus is at home in the drawing- 

 room. 



Mistletoe. 



Don't forget a few dollars' worth of 

 imported mistletoe. There are no "privi- 

 leges ' ' allowed with the native speeies. 

 I don't know that the mistletoe^ which 

 has such charming associations, lends 

 extra bliss to the exercise under the 

 bough when well berried, but certain it 

 is that it comes to us very berryless. 

 The berries are in the bottom of the 

 case and there is no harm in your gum- 

 ming them on again. It won't be seen. 

 If you buy ten dollars' worth of mis- 

 tletoe you will, perhaps, only get your 

 money back, but you won 't do that if 

 you leave it in the case and let every 

 boy you have maul it over when wanting 

 to select a fifty-cent or dollar spray. 

 Unpack and sort it and put a price on 

 tach group, so that you can readily pick 

 up what your customer wants. 



The Christmas tree, in large cities, at 

 least, is no worry to the florist. Car 

 loads come in and are handled by the 

 market people, and the jieople go there 

 for them. I don't know of any novelty 

 that is likely to be the fashion this 

 holiday time. Holly and the scarlet im- 

 mortelle bells and electric lights are sure 

 to be very prominent in Christmas deco- 

 rations and if you get a decoration of 

 that sort the poinsettia is sure to be 

 asked for, as it is now known in many 

 cities as the Christmas flower. 



William Scott. 



VIOLETS. 



Seasonable Treatment. 



Our continued cold weather for the 

 past few weeks has been good for violets, 

 although we have been without snow in 



our section until last week, when we had 

 a fall of light snow about six inches 

 deep. This will be an improvement as 

 regards firing and keeping frost out of 

 the houses, and it also makes the houses 

 lighter these dark days. 



Your violets should be looking their 

 nicest now, else there is no money iu 

 growing them. You must take especial 

 care to keep them thoroughly cleaned up, 

 having no old or dying leaves in the 

 crown, but as I have said before, do not 

 put any careless or inexperienced help at 

 this, at any rate not till a good deal 

 later in the season, for if you do they 

 will surely snap off more pennies (buds) 

 than they save by cleaning up the plants. 

 They are so sure to catch on the stems 

 and then they go like the roosters that 

 we used to fight when children. 



Don 't fail to keep the air fresh and 

 pure ; change the air every day, even if 

 you have to keep heat on while doing it 

 in order to keep out frost. Of course 

 storms, etc., may prevent, but as a rule 

 do so. Watch out for sow bugs, spot 

 and aphis, both black ant" green. Do not 

 let any of these get a foothold under any 

 circumstances, for they are all fatal to 

 flowers, that which we are looking for. 



We never gave a real good compara- 

 tive trial of single crowns versus good 

 medium sized clumps till tills winter, for 

 we always thought we preferred the lat- 

 ter, and we still have no reason to 

 change our opinion. I do not mean by 

 this a large, overgrown clump, but a 

 good medium sized one which will pro- 

 vide you with more leaves for the plant 

 to breathe through and still leave you 

 some to pick, and also give you more 

 blooms and better ones. Care and con- 

 stant vigilance are large factors in suc- 

 cessful violet growing, although these 

 do not always insure success, as nearly 

 all growers find out to their sorrow 

 sooner or later. 



Shenandoah, Ia. — J. R. Ratekin & 



Son have enlarged their seed warehouse 



during the past season. They make a 

 specialty of seed corn. 



Araticaria in Pot Covered with Porto Rican Matting. 



